Fish On First Prospects Report: Inside Emilio Barreras' breakout year

For the 2026 season, Fish On First will provide weekly reports on the Miami Marlins farm system, covering all levels. This mid-June edition of the Fish On First Prospects Report might be our most detailed of the year thus far, including some key injury updates near the bottom of the article.

This report covers the games played from June 9-15.

Triple-A Jacksonville

Although the walks do remain an issue, Karson Milbrandt had a strong second start in Jacksonville on Saturday, going five innings, allowing one run on three hits, three walks and struck out seven. His fastball topped out at 97.0 mph and averaged 94.3 mph. He had five whiffs on that pitch and three of his seven strikeouts came on the fastball.

Milbrandt generated three of his strikeouts with his sweeper and also threw his slider and curveball. In a recent interview on the Call-Up Podcast, Milbrandt said that he has added a kick-change to his arsenal, though he has yet to use it in Triple-A.

Since being optioned to Jacksonville, Graham Pauley is slashing .254/.361/.535/.897 with four home runs, 10 RBI and a 135 wRC+. Marlins third basemen this season at the big league level have combined for a 43 wRC+, the worst in baseball. Pauley's defense has never been the question, but he needs to hit at the highest level so he can be playable. Another opportunity should be coming for him soon if he maintains this pace.

A third baseman coming out of the MLB Draft, Gage Miller has mostly been bumped to second base to make room for Pauley. He is now slashing .313/.421/.469/.890 with one home run, six RBI and a 144 wRC+ in Triple-A.

Andrew Pintar is quietly having a great season. After a slow start, Pintar is now hitting .260/.366/.420/.786 with six home runs, 31 RBI, 17 stolen bases and a 114 wRC+. Outfield depth in the organization is as good as it's been in years, so for Pintar to receive a call-up this season may require an injury to either Jakob Marsee or Esteury Ruiz.

Double-A Pensacola

Behind solid starting pitching from some unheralded arms, the Wahoos enjoyed a successful week. After having their opener rained out, Pensacola split a doubleheader before taking three of the next four against the Clingstones to improve to 32-31. They are now within one game of the lead in a tightly contested Southern League South division. During the week, Pensacola starters gave up just 10 runs in 30 ⅓ innings (2.99 ERA). On the season, the Wahoos staff as a whole owns a 4.42 ERA, third-lowest in the Southern League.

In today’s baseball reality, soft-tossing lefties are becoming a thing of the past. Luis Palacios represents one of few surviving members of this craft and it was on full display this week against Columbus. He worked five innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two and inducing nine ground outs. All of that was accomplished on just 53 pitches.

The longest-tenured member of the Marlins organization, Palacios has been doing his thing, throwing strikes and getting ground balls since 2017. Simply put, the guy doesn’t walk anyone. Year over year, he is one of the best arms in MiLB at commanding the strike zone. This season, Palacios has uncharacteristically walked 25 batters in 51 ⅓ innings. This can perhaps partially be attributed to completely missing spring training due to visa issues. Despite the early-season woes, he bounced back well and is keeping his walk rate more than manageable. He’s doing the same with his ERA, which sits at 2.18 (seventh-lowest in the Southern League). When he’s at his best, Palacios profiles as an innings-eating machine capable of shutting down opposing offenses at a lightning-fast pace, but with limited velocity and swing-and-miss stuff, there is little room for error in his game.

Despite being the complete and polar opposite of the Marlins’ archetype pitcher, the 25-year-old southpaw has performed well so far this season. Especially in an organization struggling for pitching depth, he at least deserves an extended look at the Triple-A level. As he comes up on another year of minor league free agent eligibility, Palacios getting a cup of coffee in the majors would certainly be a feel-good story for a player who has spent his entire professional career with the same team.

It was another good series for Juan Matheus. The 22-year-old infielder who continues to project plus power from within a small package. In this series, the 5’9”, 155 pounder went 5-for-18 with two home runs and seven RBI. His team-best OPS rose to .830.

Offensive success has been sporadic at times this season for Matheus, but overall, his translation to the upper minors is going pretty well. He’s swinging a lot both at strikes and at balls out of the zone, but his ability to get the bat around with lightning quickness has allotted him longer ABs and caused opposing pitchers to come further in the zone. Matheus continues to favor his pull side but he’s also found some success up the middle with the Wahoos as he is going through the box at a 30.8% clip. He hasn’t walked much against Double-A stuff but his penchant for contact more than makes up for it. Thought to be a distant third piece in the trade that sent Ryan Weathers to New York, Matheus has quickly made a name for himself with a loud bat that has looked the part more often than not against the toughest competition he’s ever faced. This is a name that is continuing to trend up in the organization.

High-A Beloit

It was another tough week for the Sky Carp in the standings. After opening their series against Quad Cities with a win, the team dropped four of their next five including their last three straight. Particularly painful was Saturday’s game in which they squandered an early 6-0 lead and lost 12-6. Beloit’s pitching continues to be a nightmare: their team ERA has now swelled to 5.97. They own a minus-26 run differential.

A 22-year-old infielder capable of playing multiple positions, Emilio Barreras has done nothing but hit since coming to Miami as an eighth-round pick last year. Promoted to the High-A level on June 3, he is slashing .395/.432/.553 with the Sky Carp. This past week, Barreras went 10-for-17 and ran his hit streak to nine games en route to being named our Prospect of the Week.

Coming out of the draft, Barreras was highly touted for his bat-to-ball skills which allotted him a .311/.399/.402 slash as a three-year starter at Grand Canyon University. Early in his pro career, he is proving that skill set can translate. With a patient approach and slashy bat built for a good average, Barreras can go with any pitch type and hit to all fields. He is also perfectly content taking a walk, which he has done more than he’s struck out so far this season. Scouts see in Barreras the hands, range and footwork to stick at shortstop, or the very least, the ability to hold down second base, keeping him at a premium position. Barreras isn’t slow, but needs to work on his timing mechanics while on the bases. If he’s able to develop in that capacity, he will add another layer to his game. So far this season, he has stolen three bags and been caught six times.

Overall, Barreras, the self-described “pest,” could carve out a nice career as a top-of-the-order run to be driven in or a bottom-of-the-order guy who will turn the lineup over. If he keeps doing what he’s doing as he moves through the levels, he is a safe player. As such, the floor is decently high.

Brandon Compton, the Marlins’ second-round pick last season, needs to find offensive consistency to carry him to a potential ceiling of a starting corner outfielder. After a disappointing May in which he recorded just 13 hits, Compton has been absolutely on fire to start June. The latest exports from Compton’s bat were a 10-hit series against the River Bandits and he is beginning to turn raw power that he was highly touted for when drafted into game power. Four of his salvos during that span were home runs, bringing him to seven on the season.

With great raw strength, he is showcasing an ability to turn on virtually anything and drive it to his pull side. Compton has also been very selective against High-A stuff, proven by an extremely high 24% walk rate. The only thing inhibiting Compton’s game is an equally high K rate of 34%. A man of extremes, Compton isn’t swinging at bad pitches, but he is trying to force pull-side contact often leading to overzealous hacks and a bit of unbalance in his follow through. Simplifying his mechanics and being able to cover more plate will be paramount for the 22-year-old as he continues to develop.

For now, this was an extremely encouraging week and span for Compton. If he can limit the swings-and-misses and start to use more of the field, he'll access the best version of himself.

Low-A Jupiter

After a hot start in the FCL, Edgardo De Leon was promoted to Low-A, where he is doing a lot of the same, slashing .350/.400/.700/1.100 with two home runs, six RBI and a 174 wRC+. He has six total home runs this season between both levels. In 2025, he struck out 28.8% of the time, but so far, he has cut down the strikeout rate to 17.8% between both levels and is walking 16.8% of the time.

De Leon, 19, was the third piece acquired in the trade that sent Edward Cabrera to the Chicago Cubs this past offseason. Obviously, all players are in different stages of their career, but based solely on production, De Leon takes the cake. If he keeps producing at this level, De Leon should eventually crack into our FOF Top 30 list.

Luis Arana, also promoted to Low-A with De Leon, has gotten off to a great start as well. In 11 games, he is hitting .341/.491/.512/1.003 with one home run, 11 RBI and a 180 wRC+. He has stolen 17 bases between both levels. Defensively, Arana has played shortstop the most, but has gotten a fair share of reps at third base. Signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela for $30k in 2025, he projects as a shortstop long term.

Carter Johnson is quietly making the case for a promotion, now slashing .250/.370/.438/.808 with seven home runs, 31 RBI and a 122 wRC+. A lot of the production should be taken with a grain of salt as this is his second full season at the level, but at this rate, he has nothing left to prove.

Manuel Genao, a 20-year-old right-handed pitching prospect, has a 3.50 ERA, 3.92 FIP, 9.67 K/9 and a 2.33 BB/9 in 13 games (11 starts) this season. In his most recent start where there was Statcast data available, Genao's sinker topped out at 96.1 mph and averaged 94.6 mph. He also throws a slider, curveball, cutter, changeup and a four-seam fastball.

PJ Morlando, the top pick of the 2024 Marlins draft class, has not been able to get it going, now slashing .176/.317/.283/.601 with four home runs, 22 RBI and a 77 wRC+. He is striking out 27.4% of the time. Going down to the complex league for a bit as a 21-year-old would be a tough pill to swallow, but that has to be on the table soon if he continues to show no signs of progress.

FCL Marlins 

Another week of rookie ball brought more unusual storylines, highlighted by the FCL Marlins throwing a no-hitter and still losing the game.

Jonas Uzcategui made three appearances this week and looked like the Uzcategui we have seen for most of the season in two of them before running into trouble on Monday. In his first appearance, he threw an inning without allowing a hit, though a walk eventually came around to score. Three days later, he tossed four innings and allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out two.

Monday got away from him a bit as he allowed six runs on three hits and three walks. Unfortunately, that is the nature of rookie ball—one rough outing can overshadow several quality appearances because of how short the season is. Even with that start, Uzcategui has made some really big strides from last year.

After a rough first month since coming stateside, Almen Tolentino has started to look like the player we saw last year in the DSL when he hit .301 with six home runs and 20 stolen bases. Over the last week, he went 5-for-16 (.312) and stole three bases, including one in each of his last three games.

As the season goes on, the consistency should start to show. If it does, the Marlins could start seeing the same version of Tolentino that made such a strong impression a year ago.

DSL Marlins & DSL Miami

Catcher Carlos Martinez has had a very weird season, but he has made the most of every opportunity he has gotten. He has appeared in only seven games and has just 10 at-bats, but he is hitting .400 with a home run and only one strikeout.

He appeared in four games this week but only received four at-bats, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk. The opportunities have been limited, but he continues to produce whenever his name is called.

Last week, Evan Da Souza made his debut and ran into some trouble, but managed to escape without any damage. This week, he put that outing behind him and threw three scoreless innings while striking out five, walking two, and hitting a batter. Through his first two appearances, the control has been inconsistent, but the upside is obvious. He is definitely a player worth keeping an eye on.

David Shirley entered the season as a career .297 hitter in the minors and has continued to swing the bat well, hitting .333 to start the year. This week, he went 5-for-13 (.385) with a home run.

The strikeout rate has been a little high at 29%, but it is still a very small sample size. It will flatten out as he gets more at bats.

He has arrived.

After a rough first week of professional baseball where he hit .176 and struck out nine times in five games, Santiago Solarte broke out in a big way this week. He went 5-for-11 (.455), with most of the damage coming on Monday afternoon. The game included several firsts. He recorded his first career three-hit game and hit his first professional home run. Since that opening week, he has struck out just twice.

Solarte continues to be a nightmare for opposing pitchers on the bases as well. He already has 11 stolen bases on the season and, before Monday, had stolen a base in four consecutive games. The tools that made him one of the organization's most exciting international signings are starting to show up consistently, and it looks like he is beginning to settle in after that slow start.

Injuries/Rehab

Kemp Alderman is back with Jacksonville after missing about a month due to a left elbow sprain. He served as their designated hitter on Tuesday.

Griffin Conine and Eury Pérez are both rehabbing with the Jumbo Shrimp this week. Conine hopefully will rejoin the Marlins active roster following the series in Durham. For Pérez, he is scheduled to make multiple AAA rehab starts beginning on Thursday, when he is expected to go three to four innings and about 50 pitches.

Noble Meyer (right shoulder strain) will make his second rehab start with Jupiter on Thursday. PJ Morlando exited Tuesday's Hammerheads game early soon after making a diving catch in the outfield. No word yet on the severity of the injury.

This week's schedule

• Triple-A Jacksonville at Durham
• Double-A Pensacola vs. Birmingham
• High-A Beloit at Cedar Rapids
• Low-A Jupiter vs. Palm Beach
• FCL Marlins, DSL Marlins and DSL Miami vs. various opponents

Interested in learning more about the Miami Marlins' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!